Ghouls 'n' Ghosts 'n' Goblins
by Tailikku
Summary: In a time when knights scoured the country side in search of the Holy Grail, King Arthur is thrown into mayhem when the demon Ikkaku abducts his wife Guinevere. Based on Capcom's Ghosts 'n Goblins series with references to Maximo, Demon's Crest, and Darkstalkers.
1. Prologue

The time is in England's Late Medieval period. During this time, the country was ruled by the wise and just King Arthur. Having defeated the Saxons in battle, Arthur then realized the need for an heir to the throne having failed to produce one with Guinevere. Arthur was advised by Merlin to send a carrier pigeon to a local knight in the kingdom, Maximo. Maximo agreed to Arthur's request and set off for Camelot.

"This all seems so sudden, my lord," says Max, "I had just defeated the army of Zin and now I am called by the king himself to carry on his kingdom."

"Just remember, my boy, there's more to being a king than having power. He must make wise decisions for the good of the people and carry out battle strategies to defend the crown," replies Arthur.

Three days passed since Maximo arrived in Camelot and became one of the king's top knights. It was on that night in October that the moon was full, so Arthur decided to bring Maximo and Guinevere on a picnic in order to view the moon.

"Wow, the moon looks so beautiful!" exclaimed Guinevere. After saying this, she hacked up a white hairball. Maximo was shocked by the sudden feline attitude.

"My lord, I think something's wrong with your wife."

"Nonsense, she always acts like this."

"What do you mean by 'always'?"

Arthur told his wife to take off her gown, and lo and behold she had patches of white fur all over her body in a tiger-like fashion, a set of hand-like paws that ended in pink claws, and a long snow white tail. The queen was a catwoman.

"You see, at a young age my wife was treated as an outsider by the other children in her village. I saved her many years ago when I took her home from Cornwall."

No sooner than Gwen put on her dress then a wolf howled. It was not a regular dog howl, it sounded rather -and dare I say it?- human. The moon started to turn blood red. and then out of nowhere a hideous red beast appeared from the sky and captured Guinevere!

"This woman will make a perfect addition to my collection!" said the beast.

Arthur, filled with rage in his eyes told Maximo to alert Merlin about the princess's abduction by the demon. And so he set off into the Haunted Graveyard.


	2. Graveyard & Forest

Arthur rushed through the graveyard destroying any zombies that got in his way. Sometimes while running around the place of the dead, he ran into bile spewing Venus-flytraps.

"My God," exclaimed Arthur, "Why have the dead chosen tonight to rise from the grave?"

While he was contemplating this, he did not notice that he ran into a gargoyle. At first he thought the beast was just stone stained with blood from pagan sacrifices, but it turned out that the gargoyle was in fact alive!

It started flying with its wings of cobalt, in an attempt to warn Arthur not to interfere with the events going on. Undaunted, the king threw his lance at the gargoyle, causing it to plummet to earth. He pulled out his trusted sword Excalibur, and with one fell swipe - the demon's head was cut clean off! Arthur watched as the body was engulfed in flames before vanishing.

He crossed the river that bordered the moor and the graveyard and began following what seemed to be the sounds of women screaming in agony. As it turned out, he was following the sounds of ghosts moaning, all of which fell when he swung his blade at them.

The moor thickened in to the Haunted Woods. Just as he thought he knew where he was going, Arthur's path came to a large steel gate.

"How am I going to get through this gate, when I don't have the key?" Arthur thought.

"CYCLOPS SMASH!"

Arthur dodged out of the way only to be confronted by a huge ogre with one bloodshot eye. This was the cyclops had attempted to smash him into the ground. The ogre, angry that he missed his attack, flailed his arms in an attempt to reduce the king to a bloody pulp. The king waited for the right moment, and then threw a dagger into the ogre's eye, blinding him. Arthur thrust his sword into the heart of the beast, killing him, and found that the key to the gate was literally in the eye of the beholder. He opened the door with the blood-stained key and advanced onward to the Ice Towers.


	3. The Makai and a New Partner

As Arthur made his way through the Ice Palace, he could help but notice that the walled village looked very similar to that of Camelot, but only different and more like a ghost town.

Again the king encountered more of the red gargoyles from the graveyard, but soon he came across an abandoned apartment complex. The doors were locked, so the only way forward was up. And up he climbed, dodging barrels and large brown orcs.

No sooner than he escaped from the ghost town, then he was attacked by two cyclopes. He dealt with the two giants the same way he handled the one in the graveyard and grabbed the key that was on the second one's belt.

After opening the door, he saw that it was an immense system of caverns. Arthur made his way through the haunted caves dodging fireballs and the like. The deeper he got, the more enemies appeared.

"I must be getting close to the demons' castle," Arthur pondered.

He climbed up a hill of stone and made a blind leap. He landed in a small lake and found himself face-to-face with a dragon. But it was not any kind of dragon that he had seen before. It was long, purple and had no appendages. Without a second though, Arthur drew Excalibur and started to cut into the dragon's hide. After a minute of swinging, the dragon coughed up a key and expired.

With key in hand, Arthur opened the door and was greeted by immense heat. A sign nearby said: "**Welcome to yon Fyrebrydge. If thee are mortal, then turn back or be damn'd for all eternitie.**"

Arthur ignored the warning and was met with another gargoyle. "Did thou not read yon sign?! It was to keep thee away from the Master!"

Arthur struck the monster with a torch and it died. He then carefully crossed the bridge over a lake fire. He was again greeted by the same dragon that he killed in the entrance to the caverns. Employing the same strategy as before, Arthur laid waste to his foe and took the key it was guarding to the door.

As he opened the door he was met with an appalling cold, the traditional manifestation of the supernatural. Bones were laid across the ground and there were ladders everywhere. After climbing to the top, he expected for the guardian to appear, but he didn't show. Arthur opened the already unlocked door and saw that the ladders led directly to the demons' castle. Arthur kept climbing, and at the top he encountered the hideous beast that had abducted Guinevere.

"What have you done to my wife?!"

"I have done nothing... yet!"

The two began fighting. It seemed that the beast had the upper hand, but Arthur managed to deal a heavy blow to the beast.

"Why do want my wife?!"

"I don't want her. My master, the Almighty Astaroth does!"

"I thought you were the master."

"I am not, I am his general Ikkaku."

"Then that means..."

"**THIS ROOM IS AN ILLUSION AND IS A TRAP DEVISED BY ASTAROTH!**"

Ikkaku blasted Arthur with black magic. Arthur woke up and saw that he was knocked out the whole time during his adventure and was still in the graveyard. Yet again he went through the door after defeating the cyclops and the Ice Palace. However the entrance to the Caverns was not blocked by the Twin Cyclopes, but by one of the Red Gargoyles.

After a long fight, Arthur and the demon stopped to catch their breath.

"You're pretty good, for a human." said the demon in a calm voice

"Same here," returned Arthur "What are you trying to accomplish in impeding my path?"

"I am trying to make it to Astaroth's castle so that I can kill him become the lord of the Underworld"

"You're trying to kill too? I am on a similar quest to regain my wife, Guinevere."

"Queen Guinevere? Then that must make you King Arthur!" The demon genuflected at the king's feet. "I, Firebrand the Red Arremer, am forever in your service your highness."

"That is very nice of you, Firebrand. Since you yourself are a demon, then perhaps you can help me get into Astaroth's castle much quicker. You pretend to have me as a hostage, and as soon as we are in sight of the castle, you let me go and we both take Astaroth together!"

"That sounds fair Arthur."

The two shook hands and went through the caverns together.

* * *

For all of you Capcom fans out there who might be calling me out, I intentionally made Firebrand the real boss of the Ice Palace due to Capcom's lazy boss recycling. And if you actually want to know how Firebrand fights in this story against Arthur, I suggest you look up a video of Super Ghouls n Ghosts Advance showing the Red Arremer Joker boss. Some of you fans may be calling me out on naming the Red Demon from the intro and Stages 5&6 being Ikkaku by saying "Hey that's the name of the Cyclops!" Well shut up you. The flyer says that the demon general is named Ikkaku, but it is printed after a shot of the Dragon and next to the cyclops. If anything the flyer meant that Ikkaku was the guardian of the first lap not the first gate.


	4. Firebrand's Story and the Cross

Arthur and his new companion began walking down the long cavern. It seemed that even though he was a demon, he really wanted to do good in the world. And that left Arthur wondering, why would a demon turn against a demon lord?

Before he could ask, Firebrand asked him a question. "Why would Astaroth even want your wife?"

"It's a long story actually. So I'll just get to the point. Guinevere is a catwoman, which were originally thought to be servants of the Devil himself. During the Plague, many were hunted and killed out of superstition by witch hunters. Guinevere was lucky as her mother thankfully married Leondegrance, a giant of a man. I think he may have sent Ikkaku to abduct her in order to convert her into a demoness."

"Oh I see."

"Now I have a question for you. Why would a demon such as yourself turn against a demon lord? You could have benefitted from serving Astaroth, but instead you chose to leave his ranks."

"Well, many centuries ago, I was once a demon living in the Makai. Life was peaceful until the tyrannical King Breager appeared. Twice I have fought and defeated him. A few centuries later, the Makai erupted into civil war as seven crests fell from the hands of Michael the Archangel. These crests gave their user dominance over earth, fire, water, air, time, space, and heaven. It was in this war that I fought against two worthy adversaries. The first was Phalanx, a demon who suppressed many of the inhabitants of the Makai. The second one was his general, Arma. Many times I fought Arma, and after each fight, he said that he will enjoy the next one. Upon the thrid and final fight, Arma was killed by his own master. He was given a hero's burial. After a long battle, I reclaimed the seven crests and threw them into the sky. Astaroth then emerged from the rock he had been living under and then began plotting to use me as a means of being his top general. I refused since I knew that war was hell, literally and metaphorically."

Now enlightened by this revelation, Arthur began to feel pity for the demon and promised him that he would be baptized by Merlin as soon as they returned to Camelot.

Again they encountered the dragon whom Firebrand destroyed within 15 seconds. Continuing on, they encountered the Arremer that Arthur encountered in the dream.

"Halt! State thy business, traitor!"

"I am bringing this puny human to master Astaroth," exclaimed Firebrand.

Now with the king in the arms of the demon, they did not know that they were being followed by a new creature. As they reached the door, the monster made itself known. It was a long red serpent that swam through the fire as if it were water.

"Barbarossa!" shouted Firebrand.

Arthur remembered that this dragon behaved much like the one that he faced in the dream and applied the same strategies to kill such a creature.

As the two pressed on, they came upon the tower of ladders and began climbing them. when they reached the top, a blue version of Firebrand waited for them.

"I'll take this one" said Firebrand. And the two demons fought. Arthur watched in awe as the blue clone seemed to overtake his friend. After suffering from an uppercut, a small object fell out of the satchel that Firebrand had on his waist. The clone turned away in pain and combusted.

Upon closer inspection, the object was a cross, the symbol of all things holy. Firebrand donned a glove and placed the cross back into the satchel.

"Why do you have the only object that can destroy you?"

"I learned a lot from the Makai Civil War. Demon lords are usually weak to the light of God, and all lesser demons combust just by touching it. And besides, you said so yourself that you will have me baptized."

* * *

Alright, that whole backstory about Firebrand is more or less based on Demon's Crest on the Super NES, with the mention of Breager being based on the two Gargoyle's Quest titles on the GameBoy and NES. And you can probably tell that the relationship between Arthur and Firebrand is starting to look like Nick and Monroe from the NBC series Grimm, so now Maximo is like Griffin.


End file.
